The Investor
by coldfiredragon
Summary: When Carol brought the newest investor around Hal knew immediatly that he didn't like him. Jealous Hal and playboy Ollie, Total crack fic pairing Oliver Queen and Carol Ferris.


**Disclaimer: I don't own DC comics. The story is purely for fun and not profit.**

**AN: This is a total crack pairing. The idea, a believable Oliver Queen (Green Arrow)/ Carol Ferris story. **

**The setting: An AU DC universe, Ollie is an investor at Ferris Aircraft and falls for Carol. Set shortly after Hal got his power ring so I made Hal about 27 in this fic with Ollie and Carol as slightly older.**

**Enjoy and let me know what you think. I might continue this.

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He didn't like him. Carol may have brought various investors around to show them the airstrip on a regular basis but this one really got under Hal's skin. The guy was young, blond, handsome, and obviously rich if he was willing to invest in Ferris Aircraft. He even had an ego that could match Hal's, a feat that Hal didn't think any human was capable of achieving.

In other words he was competition and Hal hated competition, especially when it was competition for Carol's attention. Yes the guy was an investor and yes they needed money but the way he spoke to Carol, the way he smiled at her, the way he would brush against her occasionally as they walked side by side all screamed playboy. He looked like the type that would love them and leave them and Hal didn't want Carol to get hurt.

He glanced down at Tom and gave his mechanic and best friend a half-hearted smile as the pair started making their way towards the plane that he and Tom were working on. Tom tried to be reassuring by mouthing "Don't worry it won't last." That was the problem though, this one could be the one that lasted. Whoever the guy was he could say the right words that would sweep Carol off her feet and in doing so he would whisk Carol out of Hal's life and into one where Hal couldn't touch her.

As they got closer the feeling got a little stronger. He could see that Carol was attracted to him. That didn't happen very often. Carol was usually very guarded around men who played for her attention but she seemed very at ease around this man. As they got closer Carol waved him down from the cockpit of the nearly finished jet and he knew that he had no choice but to obey. She paid the rent and if she wanted him to meet the newest investor then he was going to do the best he could to please her. He felt the need to be overly docile today because he felt that if he upset the man then he would be hurting his chances with Carol.

"Hey Pie." His best friend looked up and Hal held up the wrench he had been working with. "Catch." Pie glared at him and effortlessly caught the tool as it came towards him. Any other man would have been frustrated after two days of working with Jordan but he had learned to love his friend and the man's mannerisms were second nature to him. When Hal was confident that Tom had things under control he grabbed a fresh rag from his belt and wiped his hands. Carol and the blond finally reached him and Carol introduced them.

"Mr. Queen I would like you to meet our test pilot Hal Jordan. Hal this is our newest investor Mr. Oliver Queen."

"It's Ollie, Ms. Ferris, please call me Ollie. Oliver is far too formal for my tastes." The man stretched out his hand and Hal shook it. "Your reputation proceeds you Mr. Jordan. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I can't think of anyone I would trust more to be behind the stick of one of these birds than you." Now that he had heard the man speak Hal was sure he didn't like him. He was far too friendly for his business to strictly be investing in aircraft research. The man was interested in Carol and he was trying to make nice with her by flattering him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Ollie smiled at him and turned towards the plane that Hal and Tom had been working on.

"What's wrong with this one?" Hal turned towards the plane as well and pointed towards the cockpit.

"We had a short in the wiring. Luckily we caught it before we sent her up." He waved Tom over and the mechanic dropped the wrench he had been working with into the tool chest and walked over to join the three of them. Hal let Carol handle the introductions.

"Ollie this is Tom Kalmaku one of our top engineers." Hal and Tom exchanged a sly glance when they heard Carol actually call the man by his name. She never did that. Ollie for his part studied Tom for a moment as though he was trying to figure out what ethnicity he was and Hal was ready to defend his friend if the blond said anything negative. He was more then a little surprised when Ollie held out his hand to Tom.

"It's a pleasure." Tom held up his grease covered hands and shook his head. Ollie laughed and continued to hold out his hand. "A little grease never hurt anyone." Tom finally relented and Hal tossed him the rag he had used earlier to his friend who used it before shaking Ollie's hand. Carol gave Hal a pleased smile as the two shook and quickly averted her gaze when Ollie turned back to her.

"I'm sure I will see the two of you again. Since I've decided to invest I'll be around periodically. Maybe the three of us can go out for drinks or something." Hal and Tom nodded as Ollie turned back to Carol. "I would like to take you to lunch so we can hammer out the finals details of our contract." Carol seemed more delighted then she normally would when an investor said that and the pair turned and walked towards the airstrip's offices.

When they were out of sight Tom dropped his hand onto Hal's shoulder and gave him a weak smile. He didn't say anything but he really didn't have to. He knew that Hal was worried and with the way Carol was acting around the guy he had good reason to be.

Ollie let Carol pick the restaurant for their luncheon. He was a Star City native and Coast City was new to him. He was hoping, if things went well that he would be seeing a lot more of the city, and of the woman who currently sat across from him. With the recent 'business' he had entered into in Star City he needed an alibi and a social life that the tabloid papers could eat up. That wasn't the only reason why he was interested in the Ferris name. The young woman's company was top of the line in experimental aircraft and if he was one of the companies' chief financial supporters then he would get a healthy chunk of the profit when the company started getting the big government contracts.

It was a legitimate business venture that just so happened to have a very unexpected fringe benefit. Carol was beautiful, intelligent, business minded, and as Ollie had realized after spending five minutes with her not a pushover. She knew what she wanted and if she didn't like what she saw she was not going to let herself get pulled in. Ollie had been surprised with how friendly she had been towards him so far and he was willing to court her if she would let him. First however he needed to know if there were any romantic attachments. Their financial dealings would crash and burn if pissed her off by being too forward and Ollie had done his research on the company. It knew it was worth every dime he could sink into it.

They had placed their order about ten minutes ago and that time had been spent discussing the company. Ollie might have done his research but he knew that nothing was better then first hand experience. He stored away the words as Carol spoke while he took the time to study the young woman. She really was quite pretty and only a couple of years younger than himself. Carol finished telling him about the recent transfer of the company to her management and he smiled at her.

"I think you are doing an excellent job so far. Now can you tell me about the people who work for you. Why don't you start with the kid you have piloting." Ollie was no fool, he had seen the slight glances that Hal had been giving him as he interacted with Carol. The guy had a crush, or maybe more, on his boss and Ollie needed to know what Carol's feelings on her star pilot were. Normally Ollie wouldn't care about another guys feelings, especially if the pair wasn't involved but this was a business deal and things could turn sour very quickly. Carol's cheeks colored ever so slightly and Ollie wasn't sure if her reaction was anger or embarrassment.

"Don't let Hal hear you calling him a kid. He's a damn good pilot and he knows it. He's good for the company too." Ollie nodded and listened attentively as she then launched into a quick retelling of how Hal had managed to safely bring down a jet that he had been flying when any other pilot would have bailed the second things went sore. "He's not afraid of anything and I've never seen anyone else like him in my life." Her words sounded like hero worship if Ollie had ever heard it, hero worship of his flying skills at least but Ollie knew that people could act completely different when they were taking care of business then they normally did when the stakes weren't so high.

"What's he like when he's not flying? Is he as fearless on the ground as he is in the air?" The question was a thinly veiled attempt to see how far Hal had acted on his crush and whether or not Carol was aware of it. Carol was as sharp as he had pegged her for when he had first met her and realized what he was asking.

"He's interested in me, we've dated a few times but we aren't involved in anything long term. I can assure you that it is nothing that will impact the running of the company." Ollie grinned at her.

"I'm not worried about that. I was just wondering if you would like to have dinner with me again but I wasn't going to ask if you were actively involved with someone." His words caused a slight blush to rise to Carol's face but she retained her calm.

"How do you know I'm not seeing someone other than Hal?" It was a perfectly legitimate question and one Ollie for the life of him hadn't thought about. For a crushing moment he was sure he had lost his business deal.

"Honestly I don't know if you are seeing anyone. However seeing someone or not I still want to go ahead with our partnership." He paused for a moment and then quickly added. "If you are seeing someone I do apologize. My tongue runs away from my head at times." His words earned an amused smile and a soft laugh from Carol and he wondered what was going through her head.

Carol for her part did not know why she was acting this way. Oliver was a potential business partner and she had made it a point when she had taken over the business from her father never to become attracted to the men who were willing to invest. Things got messy too quickly and even if Oliver signed a contract and they slept together there was still the process of him constantly checking in on her operations and becoming a royal pain in the ass when he didn't like something. It wasn't worth it but at the same time she felt an undeniable attraction to the man sitting across from her. It was almost the same feeling she got from time to time when she was around Hal. Oliver Queen just had an aura around him that attracted her like insects were to honey. She didn't even realize that she had accepted his offer for a non-business dinner until after the fact. The way he smiled at her though made her not care.

It had been a week since Carol first brought Ollie to see the airstrip. There had been 3 lunches, 2 dinners dates, 1 movie, 8 attempted muggings, 3 attempted carjackings, an attempted bank robbery, and a call from the newly formed JLA in that period of that length of time and all Hal could do through each one of them was think about how Carol was slowly slipping out of his fingers. Ollie was everything she seemed to want and the man was everything that was good for her. The only thing that Hal could offer her was a power ring but he was pretty sure that it would only lead her to a life of pain and worry. Besides it was his secret to keep and she was his boss. If she wanted to shack up with an investor than that was fine.

"Hal." The young pilot's head twisted in the direction Tom was pointing and he mentally groaned. Carol was walking toward them and she had that bounce in her step that Hal had come to associate with Oliver Queen. That meant she had a date and was leaving early to change and get ready, which meant that it would be up to him and Tom to shut down the hanger when they finished for the night. As she got closer he dropped from the wing of the jet to the floor of the hanger.

"Let me guess another date with Ollie?" His boss gave him a look and frowned at him.

"You don't have to be so critical fly-boy. And to answer your question yes." Carol had noticed a marked change in Hal's demeanor over the last week. He seemed much more distant, and stressed. She had noticed a lot of small changes in his personality over the last few months, the way he had seemed to be splitting his time, the way he seemed to be stiff and sore in the early mornings, the constant state of tired that always seemed to haunt him. At first she had thought he was seeing someone but she had realized very quickly that a girl wasn't the problem. She had actually questioned him about it when she had gotten worried that whatever was bothering him would affect his job as a pilot. He had promised her that it was nothing and she had seen a lot of improvement, until Ollie showed up that was. Hal was normally cocky and smiling with an ego stretched the full length of California. Now when she talked to him she got the impression of a kicked puppy. She cared about Hal but she also knew why he was acting this way. He tried to hide it from her but she knew how Hal felt about her and before she had met Ollie she had been attracted to Hal enough that she had been willing to entertain her pilot's crush on her.

"Sorry Carol." There was that kicked puppy look, back in full force but she ignored it.

"I trust I can leave the two of you to lock up right?" Hal nodded and Carol turned to leave. As she was walking away she couldn't help but think about the night with Ollie. She really liked the man, he was sweet, cultured, and he had done enough home work about the company and the industry in general that Carol didn't feel like she was talking to a wall when she talked about her business. She missed the completely miserable look that passed over Hal's features as he climbed back up onto the jet to continue working.

Several hours later found Carol slightly drunk and having the time of her life as Ollie swung her around the dance floor. The restaurant he had reserved for their date was one of the most exclusive in Coast City and was usually solidly booked for months in advance. The idea that a table had opened up 'at the last minute' proved just how much influence Ollie had and Carol was pleased that he was putting so much attention into courting her. The song they had been dancing to ended and a new slower one took its place. Carol was about to return to their table when Ollie pulled her close and kissed her gently. She found herself returning the kiss eagerly as Ollie's hand settled on her lower back and he pulled her closer. Maybe it was the wine and maybe it was the desire that rose within her but when they pulled apart and he asked if she would come back with him to his hotel she found herself accepting.

It took Ollie less then five minutes to flag a waiter and pay their tab for the night and it took slightly less to have the restaurant manager arrange for his car to be driven to the front of the restaurant. As they waited in the restaurant's atrium for the car Ollie took off his suit jacket and wrapped it around Carol's shoulders. It may have been California but it was late and it was chilly and the gesture made her blush, which was probably Ollie's intent all along.

The drive back to his hotel and the walk to his room was filled with light banter and when they finally reached his room he stopped her to unlock the door and didn't give her time to protest before he had swept her into a honeymoon style carry, pressed his lips against hers and carried her into the room. She wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. When the broke apart she giggled softly as he lowered her onto the soft bedspread. She quickly kicked off her heels as Ollie's hand ran along her thigh and under her dress. She gasped quietly as he traced his fingers along her slim hip bone and then inward along her inner thigh. His very touch excited her and she found herself gripping the lapels of his jacket as she pulled his lips down to meet hers.

The rest of the night passed in a blur and when she awoke the next morning she felt content with what she had done. Ollie's sleeping weight was comfortable against her back and the arm that he had wrapped around her waist felt like it should always be there. He awoke minutes after she did and pressed a gentle kiss to the back of her neck. She rolled over to face him and he pulled her into a deep kiss before releasing her, kissing her a final time and heading for the shower. Carol let him go because she knew that he had a flight to catch in a few hours and that she would have to go into work sometime that morning.

He dropped her at her home on the way to the airport and walked her to her front door. Before she could go inside he pulled her into a long gentle kiss before promising to call when he got in to Star City. He also promised that he would try to fit time into his schedule to come back to see her as soon as possible. Then he had left and when Carol arrived at the airstrip a little over an hour later there was a noticeable spring in her step in her step that Hal could only associate with Oliver Queen.

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**Yes, I know its total crack but I hope you enjoyed it anyway. Please review even if you hate it.**


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